lundi 25 avril 2016

Soyuz deploys Sentinel-1B

Soyuz deploys Sentinel-1B in the first phase of a three-step mission to low Earth orbit

Soyuz 2-1a (Soyuz ST-A) rocket carrying Sentinel-1B launch

Arianespace’s Soyuz launcher has begun its latest mission from the Spaceport, carrying a five-satellite European payload.

Sentinel-1B lifts off

Departing the Spaceport in French Guiana at the precise launch time of 06:02:13 p.m. on April 25, Soyuz released the satellite into low Earth orbit at 23 minutes into a four-hour mission.

Sentinel-1B is the largest satellite to be deployed during Flight VS14, with a mass at liftoff calculated at 2,164 kg. Developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) on behalf of the European Commission for the Copernicus Earth observation program, Sentinel-1B is the second spacecraft in the Sentinel-1 family of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) observation satellites – and follows Sentinel-1A, orbited by Arianespace on another Soyuz from French Guiana in April 2014. Sentinel-1B was built by Thales Alenia Space based on the PRIMA multi-role platform developed for the ASI Italian space agency.

Sentinel-1B satellite

The next milestone during Flight VA14 will be the release of three miniaturized CubeSats for the European Space Agency’s “Fly Your Satellite!” program, an educational outreach with European universities that provides students hands-on experience to foster their interest in careers of science and technology, especially in the space sector.

This will be followed by Flight VS14’s deployment of Microscope, the French CNES space agency’s satellite developed to verify the equivalency principle for inertial and gravitational mass as stated by Albert Einstein.